BLAH

MEASURE ONCE, CUT
TWICE

Wrestlemania is finally here and many of us are in a state of despair.
There is almost unanimous agreement across the web that the poison that will
kill the WWF isn't the nWo, but Stephanie McMahon and - to a lesser extent -
Vince McMahon himself. Many formerly loyal WWF views would have already
jumped ship to watch rival wrestling programming but, aw crap, there isn't
any. Given this one option fans who are disappointed with the product are
either tuning out entirely or continuing to watch in the desperate hope that
something improves.

With this situation in mind, many net fans are anxiously awaiting the
rumoured split of the WWF into two factions. It is generally thought that
the split will essentially bring back the WCW vs. WWF rivalry that brought
in new fans by the bucketfull. There is also the fevered hope that the
split will also bring about a wrestling show where there is no trace of
Stephanie McMahon.

I say, why stop there? Two major feds would be a vast improvement over what
we have now, but wouldn't three be better? The upcoming split may be the
biggest landmark in professional wrestling since Vince bought out WCW, and
has so much potential to change North American wrestling for the better.
This is why the thought occured to me that the split should bring back not
only WCW, but ECW as well!

Now, the key here is that each federation would have it's own creative team,
it's own bookers and it's own talent and titles. Of course, Vince would
still own everything, but he could concentrate entirely on making the WWF
his family's personal playground. That seems to be where he's heading right
now anyway. Each fed would have its own storyline owner, who is in
essentially the head booker, and commissioner, who is the TV "face" of the
administration. Vince can concentrate on the WWF, but still reap the
profits of the other two (count 'em, two!) feds. It's win-win for everyone
here, folks.

Of course, if it was just three versions of the WWF running around, we'd
have all the same problems we have now. So here's how I'd pull it off:

The WWF would be the World Sports Entertainment Federation, with heavy
emphasis on skits and storylines and many of the same type of matches we see
today. Most - if not all - of the women's matches would take place here
since most people associate T&A with the WWF anyway. Shows would be about
the characters of the wrestlers in the WSEF and all their friends, with all
conficts - no matter how minor - eventually leading to the ring.

WCW becomes a federation for fans of the technical styles of wrestling who
look for things like psychology in their matches. In other words, the web
fan's wet dream. Shows would center on each wrestler's attempts to get
ahead and get the gold in the fed. And of course, the cruiserweights.

ECW becomes... well... ECW. A more extreme alternative with those who are
bored with what the WWF and WCW have to offer. Shows would be a celebration
of the no-holds-barred style that got ECW attention in the first place.

Each wrestler would be placed in whatever fed suited their talents the best.
I'll also be creating the rosters based on who the WWF has under contract
right now. Placement of other talent is left as an exercise for the reader.
Behind the scenes people are those that help come up with storylines and
improving individual wrestlers. They can show up on TV if they really want
to.

I should tell you at this point that I'm not at all concerned with where
these shows are going to find TV time, PPV slots and whatever else. I can't
think of everything.

Once this is done crossover shows - if used sparingly, maybe only at
Wrestlemania - would be huge money. Until then there's something there for
everyone, and all Vince has to do is let go a little bit, and then start
rolling in cash money.

Nah, all the split is going to do is let Vince pretend to destroy WCW again.
But it would be nice, wouldn't it?